


L'Effet Papillon

by paintedpolarbear



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akuma Possession, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Getting Together, Reveal, blood and violence later on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 19:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9008791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedpolarbear/pseuds/paintedpolarbear
Summary: Adrien would never be able to pinpoint the exact moment his emotional wall had crumbled, leaving him vulnerable--ripe for the picking.





	

Even looking back, Adrien had never been able to pinpoint the moment his emotional state had cracked. It had been the culmination of little frustrations over the course of weeks, building up bit by bit. Night after night of fitful, restless sleep interrupted by akuma attacks had left Adrien exhausted every morning. His performance in school was slipping, fast, and his father greeted him every afternoon with a disappointed lecture, demanding he straighten up before he was confined to the house in punishment. The threat never failed to sour his mood, to the point that he was cranky and irritable even to Nino.

 

If he had to guess, he’d say the dam finally broke on a Friday morning, when Mme. Bustier made an idle comment that stung far more than it should have. He'd retorted, stormed out of the classroom in a huff, and started wandering the streets of Paris until he came to a tucked-away bench on the riverside overlooking the Seine. Adrien flung himself onto it. The sidewalk was set below the street, so he’d be hidden from nosy onlookers; it was the perfect spot to have a proper brood. He barely even remembered why he was trying to stop the angry tears that were burning at the back of his eyes. He barely remembered why he was angry in the first place.

 

A fluttering something alighted on his hand, and a voice suddenly oozed into his mind.

 

 _My, my,_ it said. _What a wonderful surprise._

* * *

 

Adrien sat up, gasping. The voice was strange, but there was no shadow of a doubt who it could possibly be.

 

 _Poor little Adrien Agreste_ , Hawkmoth purred. _All alone, and misunderstood at every turn. Even your friends don't really know you, do they? Nobody knows you at all. How else could they not see how much you're struggling?_

 

But that wasn't really fair, was it? He couldn't expect his friends at school to understand his problems. Half of them, only Ladybug could see, and he could hardly compromise his secret identity for the pitying looks he'd get in return.

 

 _Oh, but you deserve that sympathy, and much more. You long for a real connection, someone who truly understands, don't you, little_ chatón? _I can offer you the power to make it so, if you do me a favor in return…._

 

It seemed as though his body didn't know what to do. Adrien felt both too warm and too cold, his heart was pounding much too fast, and his lungs were seized by something cold and iron, making every breath ache with the strain of inhaling.

 

_Just one little favor, and you'll never be alone again._

 

In some corner of his mind, he knew the words were mostly empty...mostly. A large part of him ached for what Hawkmoth was implying. The chance to end his double life, to be himself without a costume to hide his face, to be a good son and have a father again...wasn't that what everybody wanted? Impatient rage coursed through him. His hands itched to rip and tear and destroy. His fingers flexed of their own accord, already greedily anticipating the power they would wield as claws.

 

_Just your Miraculous, Chat Noir._

 

“Adrien!”

 

Dimly, Adrien registered another voice in his ear. Plagg was zipping around his head at a frantic pace, tugging on his cheeks, his ears, his nose. Everything was spinning. The words were swimming toward him slowly, through ink and mud and glass, while shimmering temptations swarmed his mind. The more the kwami begged, the farther away he seemed. The longer he delayed, the more his jaw worked to release the word some small part of him still refused to say.

 

“Come on, buddy! Snap out of it!”

 

His lungs were on fire. Of course he would give up his Miraculous. He’d exchange Chat Noir for a normal adolescence in a heartbeat. He’d sacrifice his Lady for the chance at his father's affection any day of his life.

 

_Just say it…_

 

It was on the tip of his tongue….

 

_“Adrien!”_

 

The kwami was crying.

 

Plagg’s tears were like a knife in his gut, sharp against the delirious ache in the rest of his body. Everything snapped into focus for just a moment, and in that moment of clarity, the ember of resistance in his gut flared and solidified into a roaring inferno, exposing Hawkmoth’s promise as nothing but ash.

 

Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes against the blackness swirling at the edges of his vision, Adrien pulled off the Miraculous ring. The iron grip on his chest loosened, and his heartbeat relaxed, but Hawkmoth still whispered as loud and clear as he had been a moment ago. He reached into his bag, hoping, praying--and his fingers closed around a wooden box.

 

Adrien put the ring inside and slammed the lid. The whispers dulled to a murmur, the pressure eased, and the world stopped spinning. He could almost breathe again.

 

“That was….” he panted, not particularly caring who heard and thought he was talking to himself. “Plagg, you okay?”

 

Silence. Right.

 

He leaned back on the bench, trying to decide what to do next. He couldn't go back to class as if nothing had happened and pretend nothing was wrong. He certainly couldn't go home and risk his father's wrath. And he couldn't just wander the streets: someone would surely notice he wasn't in school.

 

Or, judging by the way the sun hung low and orange over the Seine, they wouldn't.

 

Adrien stuffed the box back in his bag and stumbled away, doing his best to ignore Hawkmoth tickling at the back of his mind. He felt better, more focused with every step, the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind. One thing was clear: there was no way he was getting out of this on his own.

* * *

 

It was a lot easier than Adrien had expected to climb up to Chat and Ladybug’s usual meeting place at the _very_ top of the Eiffel Tower, higher than pedestrians were typically allowed. It was harder than he had expected to keep waiting for Ladybug after their usual meeting time had come and passed.

 

There could be any number of reasons why she was late for their usual patrol. She could be held up with civilian responsibilities (Lord knew he'd been there). She could be taking advantage of the lack of akuma to have a quiet night in (completely understandable). She could be clear across town battling an akuma, wondering when he was going to show up (given his current situation, unlikely). There was absolutely no reason to freak out.

 

Adrien was freaking out.

 

The wooden box felt like an explosive in his bookbag, toxic and unstable. He'd been successfully ignoring it all evening, trying to stay positive whenever he felt himself slipping back into his foul mood from earlier, but Hawkmoth was persistent, and now he was up here, by himself...it was a little overwhelming. The longer he waited, the weaker he felt; he hoped she’d show before….

 

“What are you doing up here?”

 

He whirled. Ladybug was standing on the platform, one sculpted eyebrow raised, looking at him as though she was deciding whether or not to throw him over the side. His stomach dropped like a cold stone. All his carefully chosen words died in his throat, and his most prominent thought was _“I'm screwed.”_ He couldn't do much except stutter and mentally berate himself for developing this stupid crush in the first place.

 

“I thought Chat Noir would have been here by now,” she huffed, making a show of setting her hands on her hips. “He's not usually _this_ late.”

 

“Um.” He cleared his throat. “I might...happen to know something about...that.” Gingerly, he reached into his bag and pulled out the box. Ladybug’s eyes widened. Adrien couldn't tell if she was angry or just surprised, but by the way she turned quiet, he guessed it was the latter. He took a deep, shuddering breath and steeled his nerves.

 

“ _I'm_ Chat Noir,” he said. “And...I need your help.”

 

He half-expected her to be frightened for his safety, or furious for revealing the one secret they had promised to keep from each other. He half-expected her to yell at him or patronizingly reassure him that she would take care of everything. Instead, she was staring at him with an unfathomable expression.

 

He couldn't take the silence. “What?”

 

She seemed to come back to herself. “Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “I just...I should have realized it was you.”

 

Which made no sense, but he hadn't climbed the entire Eiffel Tower to be derailed now. He clutched the box with trembling hands. “There's an akuma in here…. I-I think the box keeps its magic contained...but not completely.” He swallowed hard. “I can feel it….”

 

Her expression softened as realization crossed her face. “I didn't know the akuma could be resisted.”

 

“Well, I didn't know Hawkmoth could influence Miraculous holders in the first place, so we're even.” He shrugged, and deliberately left out the part about how dangerously close to _not_ resisting he had come (how dangerously close he still teetered on the edge of not resisting) and how out of control it had made him feel. Nobody needed to see how weak he really was, least of all Ladybug. It wasn't as if she needed the reminder.

 

Adrien handed over the box. She opened it, looked inside, and paused, glancing at him. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You look pale.”

 

He nodded; despite the renewed onslaught of Hawkmoth’s whispers, the tightness in his chest, and the way the lights on the tower blurred and wobbled, he was only moderately afraid. The promises held no sway over him anymore, now that he had seen through whatever magic fueled them, but the physical punishment was wearing at him. He was definitely feeling pale. “Just hurry.” He could reach out and take the ring, if he wanted. It wasn't too late to change his mind….

 

“Adrien,” Ladybug said, pulling him out of his stupor. “You know I have to break this to capture the akuma. I might not be able to restore it.”

 

Frowning, he said, “That's never been a problem before.” He couldn't see the relevance: he just wanted it to _end_.

 

“It's a Miraculous. The regular rules might not apply.”

 

“I'll take a chance,” he said, his voice sounding thick and strained even to his own ears.

 

She set her mouth in a hard line, nodding, and crushed the ring in her hand. A glistening purple moth fluttered from between her fingers. Adrien’s stomach roiled; the whispers increased until they were barely less than screams, overlapping and frantic and overwhelming and all he wanted was to _make it stop_ , and oh god the waves of _pain_ that crashed over him stung his eyes with tears.

 

Her yo-yo turned blinding white and a pure white butterfly took off into the sky and his knees buckled as blessed silence flooded through his every nerve. Ladybug caught him, and they knelt there on the tower, under the flocks of ladybugs swarming through the night sky, him trembling, her with her face pressed into his hair and her arms wrapped around him like ramparts to hold back the darkness.

 

She asked, “Are you okay?”

 

“It's quiet,” he mumbled into her shoulder. She clutched him tighter.

 

“It hurt.” Adrien was full-on shaking, now. “It hurt so much. I never want to feel that again.”

 

“Shh,” she murmured, pressing her soft lips to his temple. He shuddered into the touch, into the warmth that blossomed on his face at the contact. Ladybug pushed gently on his shoulders until they were properly face-to-face, and he saw now that she offered him his Miraculous ring in her open palm, whole and uncorrupted.

 

He reached to take the ring, and as his fingers touched hers, he saw the flash and felt the warm rush of her transformation fading away. And kneeling next to him on the highest platform of the Eiffel Tower, glowing in its lights, and beaming at him with a shy smile brighter than the moon itself, was _Marinette._

 

The gears in his mind ground to a stop. “I--you-- _milady_ ….” All the events of the past year and a half slotted into place like puzzle pieces, plucked at random from the box but meant to fit together from the start. Laughter bubbled out of him, uncontrollably, mixing with his sobs of relief and her own giggles. He felt high, basking in the arms of the love of his life.

 

“Hawkmoth will never hurt you again,” she said fiercely through hot tears. “He'll have to get through me first.”

 

They fell asleep like that, curled up together on the platform. At least, Adrien slept. When he woke in a cold sweat mere hours later, his leftover nightmare echoing with Hawkmoth’s whispers, he discovered Marinette had been awake already, clinging to him like a security blanket and staring out into the darkness.

 

“Didn't you sleep?” he asked. She shook her head, and he twisted around so he could look at her properly. Their noses brushed, just barely, and he felt a jolt of warmth run down his spine that had nothing to do with the weather.

 

“You should,” he said, then added with a sparkling grin, “ _mon amour._ ”

 

And when Marinette blushed and giggled at the epithet, he simply said, “I've always loved you. I just didn't know it was you.”

 

“It's funny,” she finally admitted, still flushed. “I've been in love with you practically since we met. If I'd known back then you loved me too I might have keeled over dead.” Adrien laughed, and when her shining eyes flickered down to his lips, he was more than happy to oblige her.

 

When they finally found Hawkmoth, he thought, he owed the man a thank-you before the asskicking started.

**Author's Note:**

> The canon compliance of this fic relies entirely on the premise that Miraculous holders are vulnerable to the akuma in the first place...a factoid that I have not been able to find either confirmed or debunked by any of the creators. Take it as you will.


End file.
